I. Field
The following description relates generally to peer-to-peer communication networks and more particularly to increasing network performance.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems or networks are widely deployed to provide various types of communication; for instance, voice and/or data may be provided through wireless communication systems. A typical wireless communication system, or network, can provide multiple users access to one or more shared resources. For instance, a system may use a variety of multiple access techniques such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and others.
Wireless communication networks are commonly utilized to communicate information regardless of where a user is located (inside or outside a structure) and whether a user is stationary or moving (e.g., in a vehicle, walking). Generally, wireless communication networks are established through a mobile device communicating with a base station, access point, or access router. The access point covers a geographic range or cell and, as the mobile device is operated, it may be moved in and out of these geographic cells.
Some networks can be constructed utilizing solely peer-to-peer communication without utilizing base stations, access points, or access routers. Such networks are sometimes referred to as ad hoc networks. Communication in such networks may, in some cases, be limited to exchanges between devices that are within direct wireless transmission range of each other, while in other cases multi-hop forwarding between non-adjacent devices may be supported. Various techniques may be used to maintain connectivity and/or forwarding information as the topology of the network changes (e.g., as devices join, leave, or move). Some networks can also be constructed utilizing a combination of both peer-to-peer devices as well as base stations, access points, or access routers.
In many communication networks, network congestion can be caused by various factors including a large number of devices conveying data at substantially the same time and/or a large amount of data being transmitted by a relatively small number of devices. Network congestions can cause problems such as degradation of a quality of service. In peer-to-peer networks, there is no central scheduler or central authority that can schedule communications and, thus, attempt to mitigate network congestion. Therefore, there exists a need to address network congestion in peer-to-peer communication networks.